Anybody trying to figure out why gas prices are soaring outrageously should consider the distinct possibility that the über-right-wing Koch Brothers, owners of the powerful privately-held energy company Koch Industries, are behind the inflation of gas prices in their often declared determination to “destroy” President Obama before election day. Rational conservatism is one thing, but the Rush Limbaugh-Koch Brothers program of slash-and-burn politics fueled by Limbaugh’s obscenely loud mouth and Koch money is a threat to the democracy they say they wish to preserve. What they clearly wish to preserve intact and undisturbed are their corporate cash cows, their unregulated manipulation and control of political processes, and the power that comes from their vast fortunes.

In response to Georgetown University Law School student Sandra Fluke’s testimony before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, Rush Limbaugh has shown himself to be what decent folks have suspected for a long time: an undisciplined, uncouth, unprincipled lout with little regard for decency and fairness. Ms. Fluke, age twenty-three, testified on why women should be allowed access to contraception and reproductive health care. She was not speaking for herself but for all women, married and unmarried. Limbaugh, the 61-year-old radio talk show host who is in his fourth marriage, called Ms. Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” and insisted that what she really wants is to be paid for sex which makes her a whore.

Ms. Fluke, a third-year student at Georgetown Law, was invited by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to speak at a special hearing when Republican Representative Darrell Issa from San Diego County refused to allow her to speak during a separate hearing held by the House Oversight Committee on President obama’s new rule on contraceptive coverage for employees at religiously affiliated universities, hospitals, and non-profits. Issa said Fluke didn’t “have the appropriate credentials” to testify because she is a “college student.” At the Pelosi-sponsored hearing, Ms. Fluke stated simply that being an American woman made her more qualified to speak on issues that affect women’s reproductive health... than any of the men on Issa’s all-male oversight committee.

Limbaugh, who says he is a Christian, a Methodist, continued his tirade against Fluke today by offering her, and all the female students at Georgetown University, an “accommodation” of his own. Instead of contraception, Limbaugh said he would buy “as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want.” The old aspirin quip, trotted out a couple of weeks ago by multi-millionaire Foster Friess, a leading funder of Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign, is a pitiful put-down of all American women. Friess says he is a born-again evangelical Christian. Nobody expects Catholic Christians and fundamentalist evangelical Christians to stand up and say “enough,” but it’s fair to wonder where are the voices of other Christian leaders. Perhaps they will yet begin to speak.

Now is the time for all good... etc.